Excitement is in the air as Enugu people anxiously await the arrival, this afternoon, of Governor Sullivan Chime, whom they last beheld about four months ago.

Chime returned to Nigeria early yesterday morning via a British Airways flight straight to the capital city of Abuja, where he has been receiving visitors and conferring with top state government officials who flew down to receive him.

“He will depart Abuja for Enugu by 2pm,” an impeccable source close to the Enugu State Government House told News Express early this afternoon.

From Abuja to Enugu by air takes less than an hour, meaning that the governor and his entourage should touch down at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport before 4pm, into the warm embrace of family members, friends and top government officials already waiting for him there.

The Coal City – as the Enugu State capital is nicknamed – is in a festive mood in eager expectation of the man regarded as one of the few performing state governors in the country.

Chime was last seen in Enugu about 140 days ago. His absence engendered a political crisis as he over-stayed his three-month accumulated leave, leading to questions being asked about his fate and whereabouts. The governor was later traced to a London hospital, where he was receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness contrary to claims by his lieutenants that he was on holiday.

•Photo: Returnee Governor Chime.